Re: [tuning] Mathematical proofs vs. musical proofs.3

Re Jon Szanto's rant against microtonal composition not being like Bach, this
is an old, but transplanted argument. (nothing personal)

While at the Waterloo Music Festival directed by Maestro Schwartz, I attended
a lecture by the critic Lippman. The now late Mr. Lippman asked a full room
of young, future professionals if they know of a single piece composed after
1950 that they though was worthy of comparison with the 3 B's. Few would
have the confidence to answer this windbag and there was a long silence as he
goaded us on.

Finally, of course, I had to answer something, and said George Crumb's
"Ancient Voices of Children." He seemed to waver...just a little bit, before
giving that piece lip service and rounding up the wagons of his earlier
argument. Gee, why would anyone want to be a composer after that?

In 2000 we now see college and universities canceling their composition
departments. Tenure positions have been taken away from composition
everywhere. There has been an attach on ALL serious (but not entertaining
enough) new music. In fact the pop world emphasizes lyrics in 99.99 of its
music, while the video craze of MTV failed to continue any small successes
they previously experienced.

My own music cannot be denuded of its microtones. I understand that not
everyone has heard it. It's also too difficult for theorists to analyze
easily (as if they were running to do so), and to challenging to review
(after all, critics are journalists first and want to appear on sure ground
when reviewing).

There are other great microtonal works and non-microtonal works. Since all
music must be seen from the culture that produces it (even if it is the
lonely culture on an expatriate individual) it is likely that except for
pabulum designed for money making, our great diversity and complexity make
for a less reliable distribution of important music, the kind that Jon Szanto
would like to hear. Remember, he can only here tapes, CDs, etc., not the
corporeal live performances that we have here in New York.

Johnny Reinhard

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Afmmjr@aol.com [mailto:Afmmjr@aol.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2000 7:15 AM
> To: tuning@egroups.com
> Subject: Re: [tuning] Mathematical proofs vs. musical proofs.3
>
> Re Jon Szanto's rant against microtonal composition not being
> like Bach, this
> is an old, but transplanted argument. (nothing personal)
>
> While at the Waterloo Music Festival directed by Maestro
> Schwartz, I attended
> a lecture by the critic Lippman. The now late Mr. Lippman asked
> a full room
> of young, future professionals if they know of a single piece
> composed after
> 1950 that they though was worthy of comparison with the 3 B's. Few would
> have the confidence to answer this windbag and there was a long
> silence as he
> goaded us on.

Hmmm ... Shostakovich's 10th, 11th and 13th symphonies, plus quite a few of
his string quartets are the first things that pop into my mind :-). Hell,
how about *everything* he wrote after Stalin died in 1953??

> Finally, of course, I had to answer something, and said George Crumb's
> "Ancient Voices of Children." He seemed to waver...just a little
> bit, before
> giving that piece lip service and rounding up the wagons of his earlier
> argument. Gee, why would anyone want to be a composer after that?

I'm not familiar with the piece or the composer, so I won't comment on its
comparability to Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. There are quite a few great
composers that I don't listen to very much, and Brahms happens to be one of
them. So in that respect, Crumb and Brahms are comparable :-).

> In 2000 we now see college and universities canceling their composition
> departments. Tenure positions have been taken away from composition
> everywhere. There has been an attach on ALL serious (but not
> entertaining
> enough) new music. In fact the pop world emphasizes lyrics in
> 99.99 of its
> music, while the video craze of MTV failed to continue any small
> successes
> they previously experienced.

The situation is quite a bit brighter here in Oregon. One of the local new
music groups, Fear No Music, runs a young composers' project for young
composers in the 6th through 12th grades. At least one graduate of the
program, Ryan Francis, has gone on to study composition (at Michigan, I
think). I've heard some of his works for piano, and he reminded me of
Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Gershwin. I wouldn't predict the extinction of
the classical composer just yet, at least not in *my* neighborhood.

> My own music cannot be denuded of its microtones. I understand that not
> everyone has heard it. It's also too difficult for theorists to analyze
> easily (as if they were running to do so), and to challenging to review
> (after all, critics are journalists first and want to appear on
> sure ground
> when reviewing).
>
> There are other great microtonal works and non-microtonal works.
> Since all
> music must be seen from the culture that produces it (even if it is the
> lonely culture on an expatriate individual) it is likely that except for
> pabulum designed for money making, our great diversity and
> complexity make
> for a less reliable distribution of important music, the kind
> that Jon Szanto
> would like to hear. Remember, he can only here tapes, CDs, etc., not the
> corporeal live performances that we have here in New York.

Yes, there is probably more microtonality in New York than here in PDX.
:-( I can certainly *make* microtonal music; whether it will be any good is
hard to say. We do tend to support our locals here, but if you and some of
your fellow New York microtonalists ever get a hankerin' to mosey out West,
I reckon I can hitch you up with local folk.
--
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
znmeb@teleport.com
http://www.borasky-research.com/